Chapter 6
Cassidy turned her scope.
Through dust and distance, she caught a figure standing near a portable antenna on a high outcrop.
American uniform.
Radio pack.
One hand raised with a mirror.
Her breath stopped.
“Colonel Holt,” she said quietly.
“I see it,” Holt answered.
Command interrupted fast.
“Overwatch is compromised. All units disregard her transmissions.”
Cassidy recognized the panic under the cold voice now.
Major Nolan Price.
Operations command.
The same man who had signed the report that erased Daniel.
The same man currently trying to erase her.
Lieutenant Mercer spoke sharply.
“Colonel Holt, say again?”
Holt’s voice cut through like steel.
“All units, this is Colonel Holt. Major Price is relieved from operational authority pending investigation.”
Command went chaotic.
Voices overlapped.
Someone shouted off-mic.
Then Price came on himself, no longer cold.
Furious.
“You have no authority to do that in the middle of an active engagement.”
Holt answered, “I do when I have evidence you are feeding friendly movement to hostile forces.”
The canyon went silent except for distant gunfire.
Cassidy kept her scope on the relay ridge.
The man with the mirror turned like he knew he had been seen.
Then he ran.
“Overwatch,” Holt said. “Can you confirm hostile collaborator?”
Cassidy’s finger settled.
She could take the shot.
The distance was ugly.
The wind was worse.
And the man was wearing an American uniform.
For one second, Daniel’s face flashed in her memory.
His voice.
His laugh.
His last transmission.
Cass, don’t let them say we weren’t here.
Cassidy swallowed.
“No shot,” she said. “He’s running into friendly equipment. I won’t risk it.”
That answer changed everything.
Everyone heard it.
Even after being erased, denied, and hunted by command itself, Cassidy would not take a reckless shot.
She was not a rogue.
She was not unstable.
She was exactly what every soldier prayed was watching over them.
Disciplined.
Patient.
May you like
Human.
Read Part 7 to see the final enemy move that forced Cassidy to take the impossible shot.
